NH TC40A Logsplitter project

[sandman2234]

Are you planning on actually using that splitter? As pretty as it is, I would hate to get it dirty or skin the paint.
Wonder if the guys at New Holland dealerships think the company has come out with a new product line?
Nice job,
David from jax

 

[river rat]

Are you planning on actually using that splitter? As pretty as it is, I would hate to get it dirty or skin the paint.
Wonder if the guys at New Holland dealerships think the company has come out with a new product line?
Nice job,
David from jax

I'm gonna step in for a minute since Mcfly's tied up - thanks for all the suggestions! The splitter is for work, not for pretty, though jazzing it up was fun for the fly & I - we get almost as big a kick out of trying to make it look "factory" as we do making it functional ..... once a sign guy, always a sign guy!
New Holland might object, and if we should get any flack, the decals can always come off - we just wanted to identify it with a tractor we're very satisfied with.
On the base plate - we've looked at innumerable alternatives, and decided we needed to get paint on it before rust set in, use it a few times, and decide later. We used it for a couple of days on a HUGE pile of large wood, and it worked great!
An added benefit: you can sit three big pieces on the plate, raise the whole thing onto the trailer, then stand in one place. Just split, turn around and stack behind you. That was really handy.
Also made a rolling dolly for it to stand on in our busy, space-challenged shop. Stores in a very small footprint.
Again, thanx for all the input and encouragement .... the Fly & I have learned so much in our short time on this forum, and enjoy sharing some of what we're involved in, too, and maybe help someone else in turn.

 

[Kubotasrking]

Very cool. I'm curious to see the cost breakdown..do you have one?

Thanks

 

[river rat]

Very cool. I'm curious to see the cost breakdown..do you have one?

Thanks

Less than $500. We didn't keep an account of all the small pieces, and could only guess at the cost of some of the scrap steel we used from the "bonepile", but that's pretty close. We just wanted something that wasn't currently on the market in our price range. We would rather have a few more "cool tools" with some sweat equity in them, and the satisfaction of a father/son project, than buying fewer implements from a manufacturer.
Sometimes, on a project like this one, the shape of the scrap on hand determines the shape of the finished project; other times, we'll find what we need and buy it, to get just the end result we both want.
To elaborate on your question; the hydraulics (cylinder, valve body and hoses) we purchased new. Everything else we were able to round up with what we had on hand. Same with our brushguard project.

 

[Kubotasrking]

Less than $500. We didn't keep an account of all the small pieces, and could only guess at the cost of some of the scrap steel we used from the "bonepile", but that's pretty close. We just wanted something that wasn't currently on the market in our price range. We would rather have a few more "cool tools" with some sweat equity in them, and the satisfaction of a father/son project, than buying fewer implements from a manufacturer.
Sometimes, on a project like this one, the shape of the scrap on hand determines the shape of the finished project; other times, we'll find what we need and buy it, to get just the end result we both want.
To elaborate on your question; the hydraulics (cylinder, valve body and hoses) we purchased new. Everything else we were able to round up with what we had on hand. Same with our brushguard project.

cool project. thanks

 

[Mcfly89]

valve - $100
cylinder - $160
specialty steel $120
hoses - $100

thats as close of an approximation as i can remember

 

[turnkey4099]

run some beads of weld and or some expanded metal (perhaps leftovers from your grill project)

The most I have ever seen on one is weld beads. All that is really needed is something to keep the chunk in position as teh pressure comes on.

Harry K

 

[river rat]

Now that we have the splitter painted (don't want to weld on it now), and using it enough to get an idea of just what we need, I think I'm just gonna drill and tap a half-dozen holes in the baseplate and run in some 3/8" bolts. From what we've seen so far, I think those boltheads will take care of the kickout problem, and won't cause a lot of rust problems.
Might even use those same bolts to hold down a piece of that rough rubber mat they use in stock trailers to give livestock better footing.

 

[jimmysisson]

My horizontal splitter has a pusher plate (~8x10) and a stationary wedge. The pusher has two bolts fine-threaded through it and sharpened to a blunt point. I've used them many times when the wood wasn't cut square. Not such a big deal on a stationary plate/moving wedge setup, but SOME traction will improve performance. Nice project, photos, and finish!
Jim

 

[river rat]

Thanks, and we appreciate all the input ... glad to hear your take on the bolt idea. We've already used it quite a bit, and most of the wood we split had little tendency to kick out - some of them were really knarly though, and we had to put a foot against it to keep it as straight as possible. We used a large cylinder, so the speed isn't gonna produce any sudden reactions, but still ... if you're hitting the down lever, it's GONNA GO DOWN! And if a piece wants to go sideways, it's gonna do it.